Wives and Champions (21 page)

“
Okay. I’ll give it a
try.”

“
And sound convincing. I
want this to be special for her.”

“
Okay, Dante. I’ll do my
best. Thank you for being my favorite son-in-law.”

Dante smiled. “You’re
welcome.”

* * *

Next on the agenda, returning
Dimitrius’ call. He dialed and waited.

“
What’s up,
Dante?”

“
Hey, Dimitrius. I saw that
you called.”

“
Yep. How was your
flight?”

“
It was cool. First class
wasn’t so bad, but I’d much rather taken the private
jet.”

“
Why didn’t
you?”

“
Because it was all last
minute. How are things there?”

“
So far, so good. I’m
working with I.T., still testing those changes we talked about for
the GHC booking website.”

“
Good.”

“
Oh, and you saw that email
from Tennyson, right?”

“
No, but I’m calling him
next.”

“
Well, there won’t be much
to discuss. Harding and his mother’s background checks came back
clean.”

“
I suppose that’s good
news.”

“
It is.” Dimitrius grew
quiet for a moment then he asked, “Hey, why do you think Dad
cheated on Mom?”

Dante shook his head. “I have no idea.
I thought they were in love. They hardly ever argued.”

“
That’s true, but I
witnessed one argument between them. Apparently she had found out
about the affair and confronted him, and that same day, in tears,
she told me to never trust anyone and—”

“
Are you telling me you
knew Dad was cheating?”

“
I did, and I didn’t say
anything because I didn’t want to taint your view of him. I knew
you held him in high regard and I didn’t want to tarnish that for
you. I didn’t know anything about Harding and the others
though.”

Dante sat down, scrubbed his right
hand across his face. “The damage has been done.”

“
Tell me about it,”
Dimitrius said.

“
But we owe them,
Dimitrius. Harding, Zoya, Amira, Mordecai and even Florence. And
it’s not only for them. It’s for us, too. We need
answers.”

“
I agree.”

Dante’s forehead creased. “Say
what?”

“
I said, I
agree.”

“
That’s not what I expected
to hear from you,” Dante said.

“
I know, but through all of
this, my wonderful wife made me realize that there are some things
I need to change within myself. Granted, it’s not going to be easy,
but it’ll be worth it.”

“
All right. You think Des
will be on board?” Dimitrius asked.

“
Judging by our meeting at
the bar with Harding, yes, I’d say so.”

“
Then I’ll set it
up.”

“
Okay. I’ll let you get
back to Emily now.”

Dante snickered. “She doesn’t know I’m
here yet…arranging dinner at a five-star restaurant…reserved the
back room for the family. I just hope she’s happy to see
me.”

“
I’m sure she will
be.”

“
All right, man. I’ll check
in with you later.”

“
Yep.”

While he was on a roll, Dante called
Tennyson as soon as he hung up with Dimitrius.

“
Hey. Did you see my
email?” Tennyson asked.

“
No, but Dimitrius told me
about it. So nothing, huh?”

“
Nope. Not even a speeding
ticket. Harding graduated from N.C. State with a Bachelor’s in
computer science.”

“
What about Florence? Any
background info on her?”

“
Um…she lived in San
Francisco for a while before moving to Wilmington. Hey, didn’t you
live in San Francisco?”

“
Yeah. I did. Ah…before I
forget, I need you to look into the legal requirements for changing
the business name for one of our companies.”

“
Which one might that
be?”

“
Grieving Hearts Connect.
We’re looking to rebrand to include a variety of customers instead
of catering to a specific niche.”

“
Got it. I’ll get right on
that.”

“
Thanks,
Tennyson.”

Dante placed his phone on the
nightstand, stretched his hands up in the air and pulled the white
T-shirt he had on above his head while walking towards the
bathroom, preparing to take a shower.

* * *

“
So why are we having
dinner at this fancy restaurant this evening, Mom? Dad?” Emily
asked.

“
Wanted to do something
nice for you, dear,” George said.

“
But Dad, you really didn’t
have to do this.”

“
Oh, nonsense. You just
look at that menu and see what you’re going to feed my
grandbabies.”

Emily glanced at her mother then back
at her father. “Mom told you, huh?”

“
Yes, she did, and I am so
happy.”

A small smile touched Emily’s
lips.

“
What about Dante? Is he
happy about it?” George asked, knowing Dante was due to show up any
minute now.

“
He is. He wants a big
family, you know, since losing his parents.”

George nodded.

And then Ezra began bouncing in his
chair, moving erratically, smiling and looking towards the
door.

“
What’s gotten into you,
Ezra?” Emily asked. Since her back was towards the door, she
couldn’t see Dante standing there with a dozen healthy red
roses.

Ezra could.

Her parents could, but they managed to
keep a straight face.

“
Da-da,” Ezra said, over
and over again.

“
Da-da? Your father isn’t
here, Ez,” Emily said right before she turned around to see her
tall, well-dressed, handsome husband standing at the door with a
bouquet of flowers.

“
Dante?” she said standing,
walking towards him. “Wha—what are you doing here?” she asked,
embracing him before he could answer, burying her face in the black
shirt he had on with a black suit. Her eyes swam with tears of
happiness.

“
Glad to see you too,
sweetheart,” Dante told her.

She released him then standing on her
tiptoes, she placed a kiss on his lips. “I love you.”

“
I love you too,
Emily.”

She smiled, embraced him again and
said, “Oh, I’m so happy to see you.”

“
And I’m happy to see you,
my love.”

Emily relaxed her arms to her side,
still looking at Dante like she was in awe of him.

“
These are for you,” he
said, handing her a dozen roses.

“
Thank you. They’re
beautiful. Now, what are you doing here?”

Dante grinned. “Well, I missed you, I
was worried about you and I didn’t like my family separated…wanted
us together.”

She turned to look at her parents. “So
I take it you two helped arrange all of this?”

“
Guilty,” George
said.

“
Come on, dear. Let’s have
a seat,” Dante told Emily. He pulled out her chair and when she sat
comfortably, he unbuckled Ezra from his high chair and took his son
in his arms.

Ezra latched on to his father,
stretching his arms around his neck as far as he could.

“
Look at that,” Antoinette
said. “He missed his father, didn’t he?”

“
I’ll say,” George
said.

Dante took the seat next to Emily,
still holding Ezra.

“
So you’re ready for
another one of those, huh?” George asked.

Dante looked at Emily. “I am. Em and I
still need to work through some things before our little one’s
arrival, but I’m ready.”

Antoinette’s bright smile challenged
the flicker of the candles in the center of the table.

“
This is a nice place,
huh?” Dante said, looking around the elegantly decorated
restaurant. This fancy place wasn’t a restaurant where you would
typically bring a child, but he paid for a private room for his
family to dine separate from other guests, and he wanted his son
there with them.

“
Dante, you wouldn’t
believe it if I told you I’ve been trying to get inside of this
place for years,” George said.

“
I believe it,” Dante told
him.

“
How’d you do
it?”

“
You’d be surprised how
people will bend when they know you own a multi-million dollar
corporation. But honestly, I would’ve done anything to get this
time alone with my family.”

Dante planted a kiss on Ezra’s cheek,
then found Emily’s right hand with his.

“
Well, I’m glad you’re
here,” Antoinette said. “Are you staying for the week?”

“
I am, but I’m going to
need you to babysit Ezra for a few hours for the next couple of
days while Emily and I work out some things, and spend some quality
time together.”

Emily smiled.

“
That won’t be a problem.
I’d love to babysit.”

Emily leaned close to Dante and
whispered in his ear, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Dante looked at her. Smiled
warmly.

“
I suppose since we’re
here, we need to try one of those steaks everyone’s been raving
about,” George said.

“
Wait, hold on a minute,”
Antoinette said. “The cheapest steak on the menu is seventy-five
dollars and it only comes with a side of broccoli. I’m all for fine
dining, but seventy-five dollars? We would’ve been better served
going to Golden Corral.”

Emily chuckled. Her parents ate at
Golden Corral at least once a week.

“
Don’t worry about the
prices, Antoinette,” Dante said. “Tonight is my treat. Get whatever
you like.”

“
Now we’re talking,” George
said, studying the menu more intently.

Dante looked at Emily again and asked
softly, “How have you been feeling?”

“
I’ve been
okay.”

“
I’ll try my best to help
you relax tonight, okay?”

“
Looking forward to
it.”

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Emily stepped into the suite while
Dante held the door open for her.

“
I’m going to run you a
bath,” he said.

“
Dante, you
don’t—”

“
I’m running you a bath,”
he said slower. Softer. “So take off your clothes, or would you
prefer I did it for you?”

“
I’ll do it,
Dante.”

He smirked. “Okay. I’ll get your bath
ready.”

Once she got undressed, she took a few
steps towards the bathroom and saw candles lit all around the tub.
Pink and red rose petals floated on top of the water.

“
You were supposed to wait
until I came out for you,” Dante said studying his naked
wife.

“
Should I go back into the
bedroom until you’re ready for me?”

“
No, baby.” Dante walked
towards her, flicked off the lights then with the candles as their
only source of light in the room, he led her to the tub.

“
Watch your step,” he told
her.

“
Okay.”

Once she was in, her body completely
submerged, she watched him stoop down beside the tub and reach for
a bath cloth.

“
Lie back. Close your eyes
and let me take care of you.”

“
Dante, we have a ton of
things we need to talk about.”

“
I know, but right now I
want to take care of you. So let me.”

“
Fine,” she said with a
smile gracing her lips.

Dante smiled, too. She was a bossy
little thing, and he loved it. Loved everything about her. Her
drive, ambition and dedication. “How about this? I’ll talk, for
now, and you listen.”

“
Do I have a choice in the
matter?” Emily asked.

“
No, and keep your eyes
closed.”

“
I can do that,” she said,
closing her eyes. “Anything else, Mr. Champion?”

“
Yes. Relax.”

Emily pulled in a calming breath with
her eyes still closed. She listened as the water rustled and
trickled while Dante gently dabbed her face with the damp
cloth.

“
So, I’ll tell you some
highlights from the last few days of my life while I give you a
bath. Is that okay?”

“
Yes, Dante,” Emily
responded, eyes still closed.

“
So, um…as a team, me,
Dimitrius and Des decided we should change the name of the Grieving
Hearts Connect Resort, not the website. The resort. Basically, the
resort is not making as much money as it could be.”

“
But that’s not why you
built that resort.”

“
It’s not, but I have to
look at it as a business now,” Dante said, dipping the rag and
wringing water out of it.